


Hangovers and Other Scars

by Alsike



Series: Last Night and Timestamps [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Backstory, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Rugby, Surprisingly Little Sex, Timestamp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-06 12:27:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1106818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alsike/pseuds/Alsike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel/Prequel/Timestamps for Last Night - the ultimate High School AU.</p><p>Featuring:</p><p>What happened to Riley and Dawn before, during, and after the events of Last Night,<br/>Ruby and Lacey trying to be adults,<br/>and<br/>Not very much SwanQueen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As it is my birthday, and on that day I try to give others presents, here is one I've been reluctant to let see the light of day. But long ago, before the semester from hell, there were requests for these bits, and good or bad, rightly or wrongly, here they are.

## Now

_Granny: Your Emma just kissed Regina Mills in the middle of my diner!_

_Ruby: Yay!_

_Ruby: Did she kiss her back?_

 

Regina froze under her lips, but Emma kept at it, until finally – a slight response, warm and soft.  It broke.

“This is—” Regina took a breath.  “This is _highly_ inappropriate, Miss Blanchard.”

Emma just grinned at her, at the slight flush on her face, at the way she hadn’t stepped away, hadn’t turned and run.  “Really?  Why?”

Regina just stared at her.

“I’m an adult.  You’re an adult.  Can’t we… do adult things together?”

The flush on Regina’s face darkened and her eyes darted away.  “You are not being very convincing that you are actually an adult.”

“True enough,” Emma laughed, a little giddy with the risk, and the fact that she hadn’t been turned down flat immediately.  “Then, shall we do this the grown-up way?”  She felt grown up, very grown up, discovering that for once her teacher was wearing flats, and with the slight lifts of her own boots, she was actually taller than her.  She could look down, just slightly, into her eyes.  She had really goddamn gorgeous eyes.  “I like you,” she said.  “I liked you when it wasn’t appropriate, and kept on with it a long time afterwards.  And I’d really like it if you’d agree to go on a date with me.”

“I—”

Emma could hear the ‘No’ in that one hesitant word and she jumped in before it could actually be said.  “Just one date.  Just one time, catching up.  I’m not a kid anymore.  I’m really, really not that girl anymore.  And I want you to know that, to see it, no matter what else happens.”

Regina looked rather stunned and not a little appalled.  “One date?” she asked.

“It’s kind of presumptuous to ask for _more_ ,” Emma said.

“I am _too old_ for you.”

“Too old for one date?”  Emma caught her hand and clasped it.  “You planning to keel over in a couple hours?”

The slight smile was almost an encouragement.  “You are not convincing me that you can even pretend to be an adult.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

Regina looked up, able to meet her eyes finally.  When their gazes locked, neither could look away. 

“One date.”

*            *            *

# Three Years Before

 

Riley slid into the seat next to Phil and took the bottle opener he offered, popping the cap off a long neck.  Phil looked over at her, smiling slightly at her grimace as she tasted the beer.  He ducked down and grabbed a bottle out of the sack under his chair.

“Here.  Give me that.  If you hate the taste of beer you really don’t have to drink it.”

Riley took the new bottle and gave it a suspicious look.  “A Shirley Temple?”  The garish pink liquid did not look _more_ appetizing than the beer.

“I used to spike them for Dawn.  They were her favorite, though really, way too saccharine for anyone with any tastebuds.”

Riley popped the top off, took a sip, and grimaced.

“Worse than beer?”

“No,” Riley smiled at him, wrinkling her nose.  “But it’s like liquid candy.”

Phil sighed, leaning back in his chair.  “Just like Dawn.  So sweet it’s deadly.”

The football match began below and for a moment their attention was distracted.

“Were you really in love with her?” Riley asked softly.  What answer did she want?  The one that would make her feel less guilty, obviously.

Phil glanced over.  “It felt like it.  But mostly it felt like – too good to be true.  She was pretty and sexy and fun.  Maybe she was a little more game than I was ready for, but that was only a good thing, right?  It meant she was attracted to me, into me.  Why would I want to give that up?  I doubted I’d find something _better_.”

Riley nodded.  “I’m sorry,” she said.

“You know.”  Phil sat up and looked at her, scowling slightly.  “I don’t want to hear it.  I’m done with that.  It was Dawn.  She’s a force of nature.  If she wants something, she gets it, and she wanted you.  So she got you.  But what did _you_ want?  You’re so into apologizing and taking responsibility, but honestly, were you even into it?  Was it the cheating that made it hot?  Were you just not able to say no to a drunk girl?”

“Why would you even think that I would be _excited_ by betraying you?” Riley snapped.  “And do you really think I lack the self-control to not say no?”

“So why then?  Why did you fuck her?”

Riley, stiff as a poker, looked away.  “Because I wanted to.”

“Ah,” Phil said.  “There we have it.”

Riley put a hand to her face and took another sip of the pink concoction.  “Yes,” she said.

“You need to be less laconic sometimes, girl.  So, this ‘wanting to,’ was it a prurient attraction to her reasonably fine behind?  Or was it… something else?”

Riley sighed and watched the wide receiver miss a pass, then sighed again.  “I can’t say I noticed her before you began to date her.  But she made such an effort to not get between us.  She wanted to be friends.”

Phil gave her a look.  “You never had a lot of girl friends.”

Riley raised an eyebrow.  “No,” she said.  “I had the daughters of my parents friends for a while, until, well…”

“Sports.”

“It didn’t go over well.”

“I don’t get what your parents’ problem is!  You’re way too smart, and you’re competent at everything, and you don’t do stupid shit – besides fuck my girlfriend, which, honestly, isn’t stupid so much as, well, annoying for me.”

“ _Annoying_?”

Phil pursed his lips.  “You might have been pretty convincing that my plan to stay and join the sheriff’s department right after graduation was terrible.”

“It _was_ terrible.  You deserve an education!”

Phil laughed.  “And college is really fun too.  It’s not all classes.  So, thanks for saving me from that.  Even if your method was… less than kind.”

Riley looked away.  “I didn’t do it for that.”

“Then why did you?  She was trying to be your friend and she came onto you.”

“She _was_ my friend by then.  Besides you, she was the closest friend I’ve had.  And, well…”

“You fell for her.”  Phil sighed.  “You keep it so close to the vest, you know.  You could have told me.”

“She was yours.”

“We could have worked something out.”

Riley looked at him and laughed.  “Yes, a timeshare with your girlfriend.  I get Friday nights and you get Saturday nights and she takes turns whose lap she sits on during lunch.”

“It kind of worked out that way anyway.  She cuddled up to you a lot.”

Riley’s eyes shifted away.

“Shit,” Phil threw his crumpled up napkin at the bag below him.  “If you had just _told_ me.  I wouldn’t have…  I wasn’t Jesus fucking hardcore in love with her!”

“I wasn’t the one planning to give up my _future_ to stay with her!”

“What would _you_ have done?  If you were the one with her instead of me, if you had a right to her?  You’d have driven back every weekend to make sure she didn’t choke on her vomit and die at a party.”

Riley nodded.  “I might have done that anyway.”

“Because you care about her.  Me, I wanted to stay because I was so scared of this.  Scared of… new places and college football.  Fuck, I’m an idiot.”

“Fear doesn’t make you an idiot.”

“Maybe it makes _you_ an idiot, though.  You were so scared of hurting me that you ended up fucking my girl behind my back, and worse, never telling _anyone_ that you were in love with her.”

“I didn’t want to tell.”

“Why the hell not, if it wasn’t not to hurt me?”

“Because she didn’t deserve it!  She didn’t deserve your love, as we well know with the way she spat all over it.  And I felt like an absolute fool for feeling the way I did.  Honestly!  I cared for her.  I cared for her an absurd, _obscene_ amount, and she was cruel and wasteful and self-destructive.  And I knew it.  I could see all of it.  I could see it when she offered herself to me, gave herself to me, and then felt nothing.  She was affectionate with me, and lustful with you, and she didn’t even think that it was wrong to have done what she did.  Or even if she knew it was wrong, she didn’t care.  Sex was more important.  I couldn’t change her, or control her.  I could just protect her.  So I did.  But admit that I loved her?  I didn’t want to.  I wanted it to _stop_.  But it wasn’t until she threw me in your face that I knew I had to be the one to stop it.”

Phil was gaping at her.  It was probably the most words she’d ever said at a time.  “Man,” Phil said.  “I figured she was just young, and she’d grow up.”

“Grow up into Lacey?”

Phi shrugged.  “Even Lacey ‘matured.’  She texts Ruby sometimes and apparently she hasn’t slept with anyone at college yet.”

“She ‘texts’ Ruby?”

Phil grinned.  “Well, they probably all start with ‘what are you wearing?’ but they seem to chat a bit too.”

Riley sighed.  “Not everyone grows up.  Some people die before they get the chance.”

“Hey,” Phil put his hand on her arm.  “I’m sure she’s okay.”

Riley closed her eyes.  “I just… I want to get over it.  Yes, I cared for her.  It wasn’t mutual.  It wasn’t honorable.  And I have plenty of other things in my life besides pining for a girl who isn’t worth my time.”

Phil slapped her shoulder comfortingly.  “Well, you’ve still got me,” he said.  “I’m over this mess.  Bros before hos, eh?”

“That phrase is offensive.”

*            *            *

# Back in the Day

 

Dawn met Riley for the first time, snuggled up into her new boyfriend’s shoulder in a booth at Granny’s diner, when a girl in a waffled undershirt, jeans and boots, slid into the seat opposite.  She tensed immediately.  This was it, really.  This was the most important thing, and she was kind of panicking.  Phil was sweet and older and pretty and she _liked_ him.  She wanted this to work.  She wanted a real boyfriend.  She loved that flutter when she looked at him.  She felt like… _Molly Ringwald_ , and like she was really going to be in high school, and high school was going to be _so much better_.

But this was the key moment.  Phil talked about Riley all the time.  For the first few days, Dawn had thought that Riley was a boy, a teammate from soccer, someone he sparred with at the MMA club.  But then Dawn had realized and started to panic.  Riley was the best friend, the one with lots of stuff in common with him, the one he was supposed to end up with, and Dawn was just the foil.  That was how it worked right?

And worst of all, the girl was gorgeous.  Dawn paused.  She hadn’t expected that.  Secretly pretty maybe, but not _striking_.  She had sleek dark hair, and liquid worried eyes, and her shoulders….  Dawn swallowed.  She was slighter than Dawn had expected, but the shirt clung to her arms, showing off the cut of her deltoids, the curve of her trapezius.  And she looked at Dawn with a curious, appraising gaze, and Dawn felt like nothing so much as a bug that might not be interesting enough to swat.

Phil’s arms wrapped around her and squeezed. “Ri,” he said.  “This is Dawn.  She’s, um, going to be a freshman next year.”

The girl’s eyebrows popped up and she gave Dawn another look, a little amused and kind of derisive.  Dawn stiffened and wrinkled her nose.

“Riley,” the girl said.

“I know,” Dawn snapped at her.  “Phil kind of can’t shut up about you.”

That wasn’t as mean as she’d intended, and Riley smiled, amused. 

“Get you something, Ri?” asked the waitress, short skirt and big smile, with red streaks in her hair, pen and notepad at the ready.

Riley glanced up at her.  “Um, fries?”  She glanced at them both.  “You guys will eat some, right?”

“Right away!”  The waitress turned and hopped back to the counter then brought a milkshake to the next table where a blonde girl was bent over her books.

Riley turned back, her eyes meeting Dawn’s, then shying away.  “So, um, how did you two meet?”

And perhaps, Riley wasn’t really all that comfortable meeting her either.  “Cheerleading camp,” Dawn said.

Riley raised an eyebrow at Phil.  “Didn’t know you were starting a new sport, Phil.”

Phil blushed and Dawn laughed.  “I’d like to see that.  You’d look great in a pleated skirt, Phil.”

“Hey!”

“You’re very flexible for a boy,” Riley added.  “You might even get the splits eventually.”

Dawn and Riley’s eyes met in collusion, and perhaps this wouldn’t be all that hard, to make a new friend.

The waitress came back with the basket of fries.

“Rubes.”  A dark haired girl came up to her and clasped her arm.  The waitress blushed pink and nearly dropped the fries.  “Party, this Saturday, my place.  No parents, lots of liquor, a pool.  It’ll be a good time.  Bring Emma, and a swimsuit.”

“Yeah?” the waitress said, “Sounds good, Lacey.”

Lacey glanced over at the table.  “You guys too,” she said.  “It’ll be stellar.”  She mainly looked at Phil, but clearly included Dawn and Riley in the head nod.  Then she smacked the waitress’ ass and wandered off, to where a college boy put an arm around her waist and drew her in for a kiss and a grope.

Dawn gaped.  _Lacey_? Lacey French had invited her to a party?  Her last party had been so wild that the entire middle school had gossiped about it for weeks.

“You interested?” Phil asked Dawn.

“Totally!” Dawn could not _believe_ this.  She looked at Riley.  “You’ll come too, right?  We can hang out.”

Riley looked unexpectedly tense. 

Phil cocked his head, squeezing Dawn’s shoulders, gazing at Riley with his dark sensitive eyes.  “It would be cool if you came,” he said.

Riley looked at the basket of fries and then back up at Dawn.  “I, sure, I guess.  I’ll ask.”

“Yay!”

Phil grinned.  “Kick ass.”

*            *            *


	2. Chapter 2

# Now – a few months on

 

“Oh my god, what are you _doing_ with your life?” 

Ruby winced.  Lacey rummaged through her apartment, and picked up an apron.  “You’re still waitressing?  You get out of college, with reasonable grades, and you fuck around _still_ doing the job you’ve been doing since you were sixteen?”

“Ten,” Ruby said guiltily.  “They just had to start paying me when I turned sixteen.  Best day of my life.”

Lacey stared at her.  “Best day of your life?”

“For when I was sixteen!”

Lacey cocked her head and tapped Ruby on her nose.  “You, my dear, are pathetic.”

“I can’t be _that_ pathetic,” Ruby said, bending down to grin at her.  “Or you wouldn’t be here.”

Lacey rolled her eyes.  “Baby, you’re fucking hot.  But that doesn’t make your lack of personal ambition any more attractive.”

“I’m not unambitious.  I just… I figure in a couple years I’ll be inheriting a small business.  And a career is just going to make going home harder.”

“Yeah?  And how ready are you to run that diner?”

“I’ve worked there since I was _ten_.”

“Then why the hell can’t you run someplace else first?  For practice.”

Ruby considered this.  “Never tried.”

“Well _try_ ,” Lacey smacked her arm.  “Literary agents make shit, and they expense like crazy.  I’m planning on having you support my book habit.”

“Me?” Ruby blinked at her.  “I’m not really sure if I can…”

Lacey gave her a look, narrowed eyes and cocked head.  Ruby backpedaled.

“Sure.  Awesome.  I’ll write you a check!  Right now.”

“Shut up.”  Lacey pushed her down on the bed and climbed on top of her.  “But seriously.  You’re starting to apply for grown-up jobs tomorrow.”

“That’s prejudiced!  Waitressing is hard!”

“So are most forms of wage slavery.”

Ruby tried to protest again, but Lacey shut her mouth with her fingers and kissed her.

*            *            *

 

# Three Years Before

“Phil.  Dawn’s in my Gen Chem section.”

“Huh?  Riley?  What?  Didn’t you take Gen Chem freshman year?”

“Yes!  I’m TAing for it this semester!  And Dawn is in my lab _section_.  Dawn made an effort to get into my lab section!  She came up after the first class and just did that little smile and hair flip and said hey and she’d see me in lab.  Dawn’s at MIT.  How in hell did Dawn get into MIT?”

“Um, good essays?  Also, I heard from one of the guys on the team that she aced her SATs.”

“ _Dawn_?  Dawn ‘I get drunk and pass out in lawn chairs’ _aced the_ _SATs?”_

“…. Do you still have a thing for her?”

“What?  No.”

“ _Riley_.  You’re not usually mean, but that was kind of mean.”

“She’s at MIT.  She’s in my Gen Chem section.  She fucked up both our lives.  And now she’s _back_.”

“Jeez, Ri.  Just ask her out.  It’s not that hard.  I did it.”

*            *            *

 

# Now

 

“ _Shit_.”

“ _Language_ , Miss Blanchard.”

Emma grinned.  “Sorry.  It’s just, I was very much of the dying over how hot you were in high school, and it’s just like, how have you managed to get even hotter?”

Regina gave her a flatly displeased look.

“It’s like… I mean, are you _trying?_   The lipstick and your hair and, it’s just all…”

“This is a _date_ , Miss Blanchard.  Were you really expecting me to turn up in yesterday’s jeans and a moth-eaten _cardigan_?”

Emma grinned.  “You’d die before you wore a cardigan.”

“True,” Regina said primly.

“And although you are totally hitting every one of my kinks by calling me Miss Blanchard, maybe we could try Emma once or twice.  Or, you know, I could find you a ruler and we could try some more _Miss Blanchards_.”

*            *            *

 

# Back in the Day

 

The party smelled like sour beer and sweat.  Riley leaned against the wall and shook her head when Dawn bounced up with two cupfuls of something pink and alcoholic looking.

“I don’t drink,” Riley said.

Dawn cocked her head.  “Cool.  More for me!”  And then she downed a cup in one go.  Riley winced.

Phil sidled up and took Dawn’s flying hug with only a little oof. 

“Dancing?” she begged.

Phil looked hugely embarrassed.  “I don’t really…”

Dawn looked stricken and Riley laughed.  “Come on, show the girl your moves.”

“Well…”

Dawn gave Riley a secret low five and then dragged Phil out into the center of the living room which had been cleared for dancing.  Some people were dancing.  Some were doing things that looked kind of like dancing, but on closer inspection…

Riley sighed.  “I have seen the brightest minds of my generation,” she muttered, and did spot far too many of the people in her grade.  Emma was curled up in a loveseat, kissing one of Phil’s friends from the soccer team.  Ruby, eyes red and looking stoned, was being towed by an older guy toward the stairs, letting her gaze linger forlornly at some of the dancers.  Lacey was grinding up against a guy so hard that he looked like he was going to come right there on the dance floor.  They made their own choices.

They… were not choices Riley was going to make any time soon.

Dawn nuzzled straight into her.  “Hey you.”

Riley, surprised, almost jerked away, but Dawn was like a limpet.  “What’s up?”

“Phil’s smoking up with some of his soccer buddies.  And they’re _boring._   Come on, I want to go in the pool.”

Dawn pulled her out onto the deck and Riley got a face full of sundress, and then got her t-shirt pulled off.

“Fuck,” Dawn muttered, her hands running over Riley’s arms and up her shoulders.  “You’re really hot.  Why aren’t you with Phil?”

“Um, not my type,” Riley said, a little flustered by the touching.

“His loss, seriously.”  Dawn dragged her down the steps into the water.  “Oh, this is nice, I’m like, almost sober again.”  She giggled and then tried to climb up Riley for a pony ride, and Riley rather doubted her words.  She got the pony ride anyway.

“Pool patrol!” Dawn announced from her shoulders.  “Hey you!  Pool boner!  That’s a no-no!  Lacey says no sex in her pool!”

Riley laughed silently to herself as the embarrassed boy clambered out of the pool.  It wasn’t supposed to be fun to be the sober one at a party, but Dawn made it far more palatable than usual.

Dawn, giddy and a little drunk, made her dance until exhaustion hit and she slumped against her on the sofa.  Riley stroked her hair and let her sleep against her shoulder, until she looked up, groggy and scrunchnosed.  “Home?” And Riley thought about kissing her.

They found Phil and dropped him off first, and then Dawn, awake again, gave directions to her house.  Dawn begged her to spend the night, and they ended up on her bed, watching John Hughes movies until the sun rose and Riley fell asleep with her head pillowed on Dawn’s stomach.

A few days later, Phil was looking fit to burst with pride and cockiness, and Riley didn’t even have to ask.  “You slept with her.”

“It was _amazing_.”

And Riley realized the bitter, sinking feeling in her stomach meant that she was jealous.

“I was kind of freaking out, because she was a virgin, and I wanted her to _like_ it.  And, like, I’d touched her a little before, like over the bra under the shirt, and over her underwear, but she took off her underwear and was only wearing this cute little cammi, and I was so hard.”

“You rubbered up, right?” Riley snapped, finding this conversation both arousing and distasteful.

“Course I did.  And she sat on the bed, and she looked at me, all like hot and eager and worried, and spread her knees and it was like, wow.”

“She go wow too?”

Phil smiled.  “Well, she was a little gaspy and pained at first, but then she got into it, and was all writhy and clingy, and I think I might have even made her come.”

“That would be a first,” Riley deadpanned, and then flushed in guilt.

“But she bled a bit, which kind of freaked me out.  I thought gymnasts wouldn’t.”

Riley gave a half-hearted shrug.  She didn’t want to talk about this.  She didn’t want to see Dawn, who showed up after cheerleading, looking bright and easy as ever, snuggling close to Phil, but talking to Riley.  She felt sick at his arm around her shoulder, and knew she shouldn’t.  Dawn was his girlfriend, really, truly _his_ now, and Riley couldn’t get the words out of her head – all writhy and clingy – and Riley _wanted_ that.  But there was no chance.  Crushes on straight girls…

Of course, a few weeks later, after another of Lacey’s parties, Dawn, curled up next to her on her bed, fingers tracing absently over her ribs, Riley had her chance.

“Thanks for staying,” Dawn murmured.  “It’s always creepy here at night.  I don’t sleep, and when my parents are out of town everything’s just big and empty.  I put the alarm on and I still just sit there, shaking, waiting for something to happen.”

Riley looked at her, at her lost blue eyes, still a little drunk clearly.  Dawn’s fingers came up, trailing through her hair.  “You’re really beautiful, you know.”

“You’re a little drunk.”

Dawn grinned.  “I like it.  I just feel… relaxed.  Less of a basketcase.”

“You?”

“I’m just… twitchy all the time.  It’s hard to focus on things.  But like this, I can just…”  Dawn watched her, steady, unblinking, studying her face.

Riley ducked her head, hot cheeks, shy of that look.  Because she had given Dawn the same look, just perusing the curve of lips, the tip of her nose, the wide-set eyes, but never directly, never openly.  “Twitchy or drunk when you slept with Phil?” she asked, brutally, brutal to herself, really.

Dawn’s eyes went wicked.  “Oh god, I love sex.”  She crawled up onto her knees and pushed Riley down.  “It’s like… the best thing ever.”

“You really…”  Because honestly, Riley had been considering celibacy for a while, which would have been better than facing the unpleasantness of trying it again.

Dawn pinned her shoulders and leaned down into her face.  “ _Yes_ ,” she said.  “It’s like, finally, you don’t have to just sit there and zone out and suffer.  Being in school is like being trained for patience, or something, and I don’t _have_ that.  But sex is like – every instant there’s something new, something different, touch and scent and taste.”

Riley felt her face heating up, and her thighs clenching together.  Dawn was sprawled all over her, in her lap, weight and heat and a mess of hair, and just rambling, gesticulating, like it was nothing.

“And penises – they’re so _weird_.  And, like, chest hair.  What is that?”

“Not… really my thing.”

Dawn looked at her then, really focused and intent.  “Not… your thing?”

Riley felt trapped, literally, mentally.  Pinned underneath a girl who had just thoroughly turned her on, could she really lie about this? “N-no.”

Dawn tipped her head, examining her curiously.  Her lips quirked up in a half smile.  “Huhhh.”

Riley needed to escape, right now.  She started squirming out, and Dawn just leaned into her, still straddling her, pressing right into her hip.  Her short nightgown had ridden up, and there was only smooth thigh and heat and the thin cotton of her underwear.

“So you’ve never wanted cock,” Dawn murmured, filthy words coming out of her young mouth like they belonged there.  “What do you want?”  Her eyes traced down Riley’s throat and chest, lingering on the slight curves of her breasts, loose under the Henley.  “I never even thought, but…”

“Dawn… don’t.”

Dawn grinned at her.  “Don’t what?”  She leaned low over her, hovering, mouths within an inch of each other.  “Don’t kiss you?”

She was beautiful, perfect lips, light freckles dusting her shoulders.  But it was her eyes that were the worst part, alit with mischief, steady on Riley’s darkening cheeks, then flickering down to take in her body, bright and warm and aroused.

“Come on,” she said.  “It’ll be just a little one, right?  I want to _try_.  I kind of want to try _everything.”_

She cupped Riley’s cheek, and bent down, her breath right against Riley’s face.  “I’m going to kiss you.”

“Shouldn’t…”

“I’m just going to warn you, I’m really bad with _should_.”  She offered a dirty grin.  “Come on, you as good as Phil?” she asked and pressed her lips to Riley’s.

Fuck _should_ anyways.

Riley didn’t like losing.  She cupped Dawn’s head and kissed her back.  She had no experience with openmouthed kissing, even with her one further experience, so it was chaste, and rough, and Dawn gasped, and suddenly it wasn’t chaste anymore.  It was hot and wet.  Dawn’s mouth tasted of whiskey and lime juice and sweet tarts and she laughed then, into the kiss.  “God, Ri.  This is hot.”  Dawn cupped her face, looking at her.  “You want me.”

“I didn’t kiss you first.”

Dawn shifted her weight, just slightly, still riding her thigh, and it was suddenly, uncomfortably obvious that she was aroused.  Riley felt a twist of something between discomfort and heat churn in her gut.

“Me wanting you isn’t a secret.”

“But you’re…”

“Shh,” Dawn pressed a finger against her lips.  “This is for science.”  Then she leaned in and kissed Riley’s neck, right at the pulse point, and then made a soft little sound.  Riley’s hands slid up under her nightgown and closed on the bare skin of her back. 

And yes, this was going to happen.

Dawn keened when she got her nipples sucked, and she pulled hair when she needed a break, and she had freckles all over her body.  She had light, teasing fingers, and liked to use her teeth, and two fingers weren’t quite enough, but three made her go a little white with pain, but she wouldn’t let Riley pull out once she was up there, just clenched her thighs tight and writhed, and she was a screamer.

She also passed out hard after her second orgasm, and for once Riley was the one who couldn’t sleep.

*            *            *


	3. Chapter 3

### Back in the Day

 

“I slept with your girlfriend.”

Phil looked up, blinking at Riley.  “Huh?”

Riley just stared at him.

“Dawn?  You, um, slept with Dawn?”

Riley nodded.

“Like… sex, sleep with.”

Riley nodded again.

“Oh,” Phil looked confused.  “She’s not… gay, is she?”

“What?  No.  I don’t think so.  She just wanted to see what it was like.”

Phil nodded.  “She is kind of enthusiastic.”

Riley covered her face with her hands.  “I’m so sorry.  I can’t believe I betrayed you like that.”

“Hey, hey.  Ri.  It’s okay.  As long as she’s not leaving me for you, I can’t really blame you.  I’m pretty sure I know who climbed into who’s lap and batted her innocent little doe eyes at you.”

“I _am_ sorry.”

“Don’t worry.  And… you know, it’s good.  You liked it, right?”

Riley couldn’t respond to that.

“It’s good to know who you are and what you want.”  Phil squeezed her arm.  “Just… don’t let her parents find out.  They’re a little conservative. And, she is fourteen, remember?”

Riley blanched.

*            *            *

 

### Not Quite Three Years Later

 

“Hey Lace.”

“ _Rubes_.”

Ruby rolled her eyes, but the phone didn’t do a great job of conveying that.

“You coming home for summer vacation?”

Lacey sighed.  “I can’t.  I got a job at a bubble tea shop, and, well, some creeper sent facebook pictures of me to my dad.  He’s cut me off.”

“Oh, wow.  Already?”

“Out of my hands.”

“What kind of pictures?”

Lacey’s voice went a little soft.  “Oh, just… pictures of you and me.  Prom.  A couple of get togethers.”

“So… makeout pictures, but not sex pictures.”

“You had your hands on my butt in one.”

Ruby sighed.  “I’m sorry.”

“For what?  Making me look like a lesbian?  If it wasn’t that, he’d have thrown me out for some other reason.  To be honest, the fight that we had was actually a lot of fun.  I could stay stuff like – you’re a bigot!  You just can’t accept who I am!  Rather than saying – I know I’m a ho but it’s none of your business, or I hate it when you try to control me, and I don’t want your money if it comes with strings attached.  It was much more dramatic.  I felt almost noble.”

“Fighting the good fight?”

“He tried to be mean about you, and I got to be indignant and defensive.”

“Oh really?”

“I may have told him that I was in love with you.”

“Um.”

“He turned bright red.  I let my eyes glisten with unshed tears.”

Ruby laughed.  “Lacey… you’re just—”

“Impossible, I know.”

“Also kind of perfect.”

There was a long pause.  “You’re the only one who’s ever seen me that way.”

*            *            *

 

### Another Year or So Later

“Go away,” Riley said.

Dawn picked up the flyer on the recruitment table and perused it thoroughly.  “I might be interested in playing rugby.”

“ _You_?”

“Hey, Ri!  Let the girl look.”  A sturdy girl let a hand drop down on Riley’s shoulder and pulled her back.  “There’s a place for someone of every size and shape on a rugby team.”  She said.

Dawn smiled up at her.  “That’s nice to hear.”

“You a good runner?”

“No,” grunted Riley. 

Dawn glared at her.  She smiled at the other girl.  “Not that great.”

“You look scrappy.  Outside wing?  Flanker?”

Riley frowned.  “You _could_ be a hooker.”

Dawn stiffened slightly, but the other girl smiled and nodded.  “Yeah.  Can’t be claustrophobic, though.”

“It’s a… position?” Dawn asked carefully.

The other girl nodded.  “Middle of the scrum.  Hooks the ball with her foot to send it back to the eight man and scrum half.  Has to lock heads with the other hooker, prop on each side, locks in the back.  It’s a tough spot.”

“You’d break your neck,” said Riley flatly.

“What do _you_ play?”

“Flanker.” 

The other girl slapped Riley on the shoulder.  “This one always gets the first hit.  I haven’t seen the flyhalf get her hands on the ball once if this one’s on the ready.”

Dawn smiled bemusedly, still clearly puzzled by the language.  “I might have to check it out.”  She folded the flyer carefully and tucked it into her satchel.  “See you in Gen Chem, Riley.”

When Dawn had disappeared down the activities fair hallway, the other girl turned to Riley, an eyebrow raised.  “Ex?”

“ _No_.”

“You _sure_?  Cause I was getting a lot of ‘girl wants you back’ vibes there.”

“She’s my best friend’s ex.”

“Ohhh,” the girl said.  “Drama.”

Riley sighed.  That was accurate enough.  “Yeah.  Drama.”

*            *            *

It was a little like Dawn was pressing all of her buttons without even intending to.  After the first few brush offs, Dawn hadn’t bothered trying to make nice.  She had just gone about her business.  And that was making it even _worse_.

Dawn was good at chemistry.  She wore the safety goggles and lab coat like she had been born into them.  She kept acing quizzes, and sometimes asked questions that even Riley didn’t know the answer to.  She was not very fast, but she was getting faster, and she looked impossibly perfect in short rugby shorts, spandex and knee socks.  They put her in as outside wing, and she made friends with the backs, while Riley usually hung out with the forwards.  During practice she was scrupulously polite, but not familiar at all.  She subbed in for a jumper once, and Riley, lifting from the back, hooked her shorts and felt her hands sink into the soft flesh of her ass.  Lifting her into the air and holding her there, Riley thought it might kill her.  They set her down, and Riley didn’t let her go.  Dawn turned, offering her an odd look, but she didn’t make a smart-ass comment, not like she would have a few years before.

It was during a game when it all started to make sense.  Riley scooped a ball out of a ruck and tossed it out to the backs.  They sailed up the field.  The flyhalf hit a pod of forwards and hurled the ball wildly.  Dawn leapt for it and caught it, tucked it under her arm and barreled towards the line.  Two defenders converged on her.  She dove.  They smashed into each other, Dawn skidded through between their legs, ball squashed underneath her, over the line.

“Try!”

There she was, sweaty and grass stained, her hair a mess, getting to her feet, grinning like a six year old, scooping up the ball and running off to kick for a conversion, and Riley felt like she’d taken a knee to the head.  Who was she?  This wasn’t _Dawn_.

At the drink-up, Dawn was waving away congratulatory first-try shots.  “I can’t drink a lot.  I have a shift tonight.”

“A shift?”

“Mm, University Volunteer EMTs.”

She left early, and Riley sat at a table, staring into her soda.  She didn’t think she could handle this.

Two other girls sat down across from her.  “Do you not like beer?”  It was the usual refrain when they realized she wasn’t drinking.

“No.”

“What _do_ you like?”

Riley looked at them and made a decision.  “I don’t know.  But, I’ll try anything once.”

*            *            *

Riley was drunk.  She didn’t _like_ being drunk.  She felt head-spinny and off balance.  And somehow she had ended up sitting out side of Dawn’s dorm room door waiting.  And there she was, in her way too sexy EMT uniform.

“Ri?  What are you doing here?”

“Why are you _doing_ this?  Are you trying to one up me?”

Dawn stared at her, and her expression changed – was she offended?  “One-up you?  No.  I’m trying to not be someone I _hate._   I’m trying to not be the slut that fucked around with you and broke Phil’s heart.”

“ _His_ heart’s fine!”

Dawn froze, and Riley nearly doubled over with the suddenly sick feeling in her stomach.  Too much.  She was too drunk and she’d said too much.

“What are you doing here, Riley?  What are you _really_ doing here?  If you want me to leave you alone, I’ve been _trying_.”

Riley just looked at her.  No.  Whatever she was, she was _not_ that girl anymore.  She stood up, slowly and off balance.  She staggered toward her and wrapped her up in a hug.  There she was, soft and warm and alive.  “Thank you,” Riley murmured.  “Thank you for surviving us.”

“Ri.”  Dawn’s arms closed around her and held her tightly.

“We just left you.  It was a mess, and then we walked out, and didn’t look back.  You could have died, you could have done anything, and it would have been my fault.”

“Hey, hey.  Why would it have been your fault?  You didn’t have any obligation to look after me.  I let you be responsible for everything, but it was taking advantage.  I knew you’d take care of me so I didn’t have to take care of myself.  But I got it together.  I’m okay.”

Riley lifted her head up from Dawn’s shoulder.  She cupped her face, leaned close, and kissed her.  Dawn let out a little surprised noise and then sighed into it, warm and wet and sweet.  And then she caught Riley’s shoulders and slowly pushed her off.  “Ri…”

“I’m sorry,” Riley murmured.

“You’re drunk.  You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drunk before.” 

Riley laughed weakly.  “Now you know what I really am.”

“And you kissed me.”  Dawn sighed.  “You’ve never kissed me first before.”

Riley shut her eyes.  “You’re not her anymore,” she said, “not the one who hurt everyone.  But you aren’t not her.  You said you were my friend once.”

“I always thought of you as a friend.”

“I miss that.  I miss being friends.”

“Me too.”

Riley’s head dropped onto her shoulder.  “I hate being drunk.”

Dawn laughed.

*            *            *

“Sorry for getting drunk on you,” Riley said softly as she pumped up the balls in the ball bag.

Dawn grinned at her, lacing up her boots.  “It’s fine.  It’s not like I haven’t done it to you.”

Riley pumped up a ball, not making eyecontact.

“Did you mean it?”

Riley’s shoulders tensed.  “What part of it?”

“That you miss us being friends.”

Riley ducked her head.  “I meant it.”

“Good.”  Dawn tugged the bow on her boots tighter.  “Lets fix that.”

Riley finally glanced over at her and smiled.  Dawn smiled back.

*            *            *

“I kissed her while I was drunk.”

“You were _drunk_?” Phil exclaimed.

“Why is that the most surprising thing that I said?”

“Because it’s you.  And of course you kissed her.  You’re so not over that girl.”

“ _Phil_.”  Riley sighed.  “I’m not… going there.  I don’t think I can handle it.  And now she wants to be friends again.”

“And you don’t?”

“Of _course_ I do.  But, I do more crazy things when she’s there than I do _ever_.”

“It’s not _bad_ to feel something.”  Phil went quiet and hesitant for a moment.  “I’m… dating someone new.”

“Is she good to you?”

“Yeah.”

“And she doesn’t get drunk and sleep around?”

“No.  She’s… kind of straight-edge actually.”

“Am I going to meet her?”

“If you want to.”

Riley laughed.  “How about I _don’t_ bring Dawn?  There are some things that a budding relationship does _not_ need.”

*            *            *

It was the last game of the season. 

Dawn scooped up a stray ball, bent her head and charged forward, and then was immediately tackled by three gigantic opponents.  Riley saw her try and reach out, pushing the ball back, and she saw the weight of one girl land right on her arm.  There was a crack.

Riley panicked.  She ran towards the pile, the tiny figure squashed on the bottom.  She rucked hard, hurling the top girl back, kicking the ball out from beneath her.  Another rolled off and charged.  The third was shoved away.

“Are you all right?”

Dawn was gasping, hyperventilating a little.  “Yeah,” she said.  “Yeah.  Just, you know, probably a fracture of the radius, you think?”

Riley dropped down to her knees and cupped her shoulder.  “Right.  Come on.  Just breathe.  Lucky there are always EMTs at rugby games, yeah?”

“Finally they’ve got something to do.”

Riley stayed as close as she could, and when Dawn was all casted up and being watched for a concussion, she curled up in the chair by the bed.  Dawn was groggy on pain meds.

“I knew you’d get hurt,” Riley muttered.  “I knew I couldn’t protect you.”

“Shut up,” Dawn grumbled.  “You don’t have to protect me.  Anything you can do I can do better.”

Riley couldn’t help but laugh.  “You are trying to one up me.”

“Shit.  Let it out.”  Dawn fumbled around with her good hand and caught Riley’s with it. “Look,” she said.  “I want you, and I know you want me too.  And I know I’m on like super meds right now, but I don’t think that makes me a liar. So let’s just _try_.  If you haven’t forgiven me for what I did to you and Phil, then, fine, but I think you have.  And I want to make it up to you.  I’m going to keep trying.  I want to make this right, and I want a chance with you, a real chance, to do things the right way.  So… please?”

“You think I can say no to you when you’re hurt?”

Dawn offered her a slight smile.  “I don’t think you can say no to me, ever.”

Riley sighed.  “You’re probably right about that.”

“So…?”  Dawn looked at her, lip wobbling.

“So, yes, okay.  _Yes.”_

*            *            *

 


	4. Chapter 4

# Now

 

“Seriously?” Ruby snapped.  Her grandmother raised an eyebrow.  “You put her in a different room?”

Granny’s hands were on her hips.  “I don’t see any reason that I need to enable your sordid little affair.  You didn’t ask for my blessing.  What reason did you have to expect that I’d just give it to you?”

Ruby’s face was red and her shoulders tensed in fury.  “I don’t _need_ your blessing.  This is my decision!”

Granny shrugged.  “Fine with me.  But this is my house.  If I feel like putting you in separate rooms, I don’t need _your_ blessing either.”

Lacey was perched on a table in the diner trying not to giggle.

Granny left Ruby fuming in the corner and swatted Lacey with a dishtowel.  “Keep your ass on the seats and not on the food serving spaces.”

“Sorry, Ms. Lucas.”

Granny snorted.  “If you don’t call me Granny, I _will_ stake out your door with a shotgun.”

*            *            *

“One room, Granny!  And we’re bringing the dogs, so you’ve got to deal with that!”

“You’re in room 7,” Granny said, tossing them the key.

Ruby frowned.  “Not my room?”

“You want to fit two people and three dogs in that tiny hellhole, be my guest.”

They walked into room 7 and Ruby groaned.  Lacey started laughing.  Two twin beds sat, one on either side of the room.

“I am giving her a piece of my mind!”

Lacey caught Ruby’s arm before she started back out the door.  “ _Don’t_.  Oh man, you know she’s punking you, right?”

Ruby looked bewildered.  “What?”

“Your grandmother loves you, in her weird anti-social way.  She’s teasing you, because you get upset about it.”

“That’s _mean_.”

“Baby…” Lacey grinned.  “It’s exactly what I’d do.  I think I know where you got your type.”

“Lacey!  Oh my _God_!”

“She’s like two rooms over right?  Let’s just have really loud sex tonight.”

Ruby was bright red. 

Lacey laughed at her and kissed her nose.

*            *            *

Ruby figured that when Lacey walked into the living room naked and curled up on her lap and Ruby didn’t lose the thread of the show she was watching that they were kind of settled.  When Ruby came home with three puppies she’d found abandoned in a ditch, and Lacey only cooed over them and helped her take them to the vet, and then went out and bought a shitload of dog stuff, Ruby figured they were probably in it for the long haul.  She also figured she’d better not _tell_ Lacey that, for fear of sparking a panic.

It was a couple of months later when her Granny called while she was walking the three dogs – now nearly grown, they turned out to be some sort of hilarious corgi/beagle mix, and could still pull her off her feet if she wasn’t paying attention – and asked her when she was moving home, that she realized she needed to do something.

“I’m not,” she said.  “I live here, with Lacey.”  And she did, their puppies, Lacey’s coffee mugs and stacks of paper everywhere, her aprons and notebooks and cooking supplies.  Their bed.  “I have a job, a girlfriend, we have dogs…”

“Your family is _here_.”

“ _You’re_ there.  And yes, you’re my family, but—”

“She’s not your wife.”

Lacey walked through the door right then, pulling her down to kiss her cheek and heading straight to the liquor cabinet.  “Fucking authors,” she said, “Drama queens, all of them!”

Ruby stared at her as she poured two drinks, handing one to Ruby and draining hers in one swallow.  Then she dropped down to her knees and kissed the puppies.

“Hey,” Ruby said, pressing the phone against her shoulder.  “Do you want to get married?”

*            *            *

“Hi, Emma, can I, um, stay at your place for a day or two?”

“Huh?  Ruby?”  Emma stood at the door, looking rumpled.  “What are you doing here?”

“Lacey kind of threw me out.”

Emma’s jaw dropped.  “Oh my god.  What happened? Come in.  Do you need a drink?  Why do you look… okay about this?”

Ruby smiled wryly and dropped onto the couch, then gave an odd glance to the shoes by the door and the coat slung over the arm.  “I asked her to marry me, and she got pissed.”

“Pissed about _what_?”

“About me trying to change her self-image again.  You know, it’s Lacey.  She wants to be cool, and she’s had to figure out how to do that and keep me a couple of times before.  It’s easier just to sneak it up on her.”

“I don’t suppose you could have done that with a wedding.”

“Not really, but I thought about it.  My main plan was to wait until Nevada legalizes it, then take her to Vegas, get her super drunk and make her sign her life away to me before she notices.”

“Ah, good plan.”

“Unfortunately, Granny was hassling me, and I just asked, and she had had a shit day at work, and I think she’s kind of pissed because it wasn’t romantic, or, I didn’t humiliate myself enough, or something.  I’m pretty sure she’s going to call me around ten tomorrow and tell me to take the dogs out, but she did make me leave.”

“Well, did you get her a ring?”

“It was kind of spur of the moment.”

“So, no.”

Ruby ducked her head.  “No.”

“I thought you _liked_ this girl.  Come on, Rubes, pull out some of the stops.”

“All right, all right.  Good advice.  I’ll… give it another go tomorrow.”

Emma punched her arm.  “Awesome.  Here’s some sheets, get some sleep so you’re pretty enough to get her to say yes.”

“Um, Emma.  Do you have someone over tonight?”

Emma flushed red.  “She’s… sleeping.”

“Sooo, I’ll meet her in the morning?”

“Not if I warn her you’re here.”

Seeing Regina Mills at the breakfast table was not something Ruby expected, and she tripped over the coffee table and bruised her face.

“Hello Miss Lucas, clumsy as ever, I see.”

The phone call came exactly at nine.  “Go walk the dogs,” Lacey said.  “I’m still mad at you.”

“Sure,” Ruby said.  “Have a good day at work.”

She used the morning to go ring shopping.  Managing a restaurant was not huge on the cash department, but she had enough for _something_.  And, well, then she found something cool instead at a local artist’s shop.  “These two.”

Lunch shift dragged forever, and then she had to sub in for the sous chef, and she smelled like grease and vinegar, and had to run home to shower and change and then put on her best biker jacket and tight jeans and hipster tie and haul ass to get to Lacey’s office before closing.  Literary agents were all lazy fuckers and they were mostly socializing in the break room right before they went home with their Kindles and ARCs.

“Lacey,” called out one of the men who worked there.  “Your girl’s here.”

Lacey came out of her office looking frosty, then she saw Ruby and her face softened into amusement with a hint of lust, before she got herself under control and went back to annoyed.  Ruby just grinned at her.  Yep, this was the one she wanted.

“What are you _doing_ here?  I’m still not speaking to you.”  She made a slight face.  “Did you see if something was wrong with Han’s foot?  He was favoring it this morning?”

“It was fine when we went walking,” Ruby replied.  “Lace…”  and then she shook her head.  In the middle of the hallway, she dropped to one knee.  “I… have a question for you.”

“Oh my god!” Aaron yelped, “get out here, and camera phone this!”

“Ruby,” Lacey’s voice was low and dangerous.  “Don’t you dare.”

“Ruby’s totes going to propose!”

Go big or go home.  Ruby pulled out the box from her jacket pocket.  She felt her cheeks going red, but really, what was she ashamed of?  Nothing.  She flipped open the box, saw Lacey’s eyes fall to it involuntarily and startle, her annoyance washing away.

“Lacey Isabelle French, I love you.  Will you marry me?”

The literary agents cheered and Lacey looked from them, to Ruby, her color heightening.  “They’ll kill me if I say no, won’t they?”

Ruby nodded.  “Come on,” she said.  “It’s not like anything’s going to be different than it is now.  My Gran just said to me, ‘she’s not your wife,’ and I nearly shot back, ‘yes she is,’ before I realized that that was just how we were together.  I don’t want anybody but you, and Han and Obi and Leia, and I like my job and our house, but I’d follow you to China if you were going there.  My Gran always told me that I was someone who clung to home and family, who’d always return there, and she was right, but that’s not _Maine_ anymore, that’s you.  So, I just want to brag that I’ve got the hottest, best girl in the whole crazy world as mine.  I offered you sex and burgers once, and you said yes, and, well, it’s not like I’ve got a lot more to offer now.  But my burgers have really improved.  So… sex and burgers?  Say yes?”

About halfway through it, Lacey had started grinning.  “You are the _worst_ ,” she said.  “I get all freaked out because I _don’t_ want to make a big public commitment, and you make a fuss that’s going to be all over youtube in twenty minutes.”

“You love drama, come on, you know it.”

Lacey laughed and leaned toward her.  “Fine,” she said, taking the ring box from her hand and popping the ring out to examine it more closely.  “But only because this is amazing.”  She slid it on, checking out the ebony ring wrapped in gold and platinum wire, with rough, untidily cut diamonds bound into it like prisoners.  “And, well,” she looked at Ruby, letting her grin turn dirty.  “You look hot in a tie.”

And then she kissed her.  She broke it off, cupping the sides of Ruby’s face.  “That was a yes.  I think I didn’t say that.”

“It’s okay,” Ruby replied.  “I got it,” and she rose up, pulling Lacey into her arms and kissing her very thoroughly all over again.

Publishing Twitter exploded ten minutes later.

*            *            *

Regina was gripping the bedsheets and making little gasping sounds and Emma was going to town, when her phone beeped with a text.

Emma flailed out and snagged her phone off the bedside table.  “Just a second.”

“Wait, what?” Regina propped herself up on her elbows and stared at her.  “You…”

_Ruby: She said yes!_

“Woot!” Emma pumped her fist and threw the phone back on the table.  “Good news!”

“Your generation is revolting about your phones!”

Emma laughed, glancing over to see her still red-faced and breathing heavily.  She squirmed back into position.  “So, you want me to finish this?”

“I hate you and all of your ilk.”

Emma teased her open just slightly.  “Are you _sure_ you want it?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Regina hissed.

She nosed her way in, but didn’t lick.  “What would you do for me to finish it?”

“ _Emma_ ,” her hips bucked. 

“I want a return favor.”

“You’re a tease.”

“Come on,” she let her tongue tease up her lips.  “What will you do for me?”

“ _Anything.”_

“Awesome.  You can be my date to the wedding.”

“Wait— _what?_ ”  But Emma’s mouth was too busy to speak.

*            *            *


End file.
